Monday, October 20, 2014

If you are feeling overwhelmed/overburdened/OVER it all try a trick today: just start thinking of all that you have to be thankful for. Seriously. Start with the fact that you are able to breathe on your own without a machine...or that you have hands that work. Or that you slept in a bed last night. Start with the basics and build from there. You will be surprised in less than a minute how much you have to be thankful for.

There are many times in my life where I start to feel like I am drowning under ALL of it. And then I need a perspective shift. For me it starts with remembering all that I have been blessed with, all that I have to be grateful for.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Yesterday my older two participated in the Tri-Freaks Diabloman Youth Triathlon. Having put on my own youth triathlon last month, I was anxious to attend one just as a parent and see how another group puts one on. I left feeling like we ended up doing a much better job with our Green Valley Youth Triathlon and came away with some ideas for making it even better next time.

(Simon giving Sophie a hug and some tips before her heat)

My kids trained for this event and were VERY excited. So excited I am not sure how well they slept the night before. Simon was considered a Youth participant and was in a category of 11-15 year olds. He is a good swimmer, a good cyclist and a very strong runner. It was great seeing him pushed by these older kids. Some of these competitors were LEGIT. Like, it was crazy watching how good they were. Both Simon and Sophie love the whole race environment situation.

The TriFreaks group was NOT prepared for how many kids participated in the event (ie: last year they had 12 youth participants and this year they had 70), including all of those parents...so things were chaotic. They chose to stage everything in a parking lot of a club pool. The pool was great; the staging area was NOT. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday morning and so the parking lot was in full use by club patrons. The only way for cars to come out of the parking lot was to actually drive underneath the FINISH line arch. Not cool. It was a constant battle between cars and the race participants.

But...my kids had fun. They were pushed. Sophie was nearly pushed to her limit - she was beat when it was over. They felt a great sense of accomplishment. My favorite part of the whole experience was seeing how much Simon was pulling for Sophie and how much she was pulling for Simon.

Sophie was pretty beat by the time she hit the run portion of her tri...so Simon jumped in alongside her for a pep talk. She didn't want to talk but I know she was grateful he was there. The camraderie and love they have for each other was wonderful to see. It made the entire triathlon experience worth it.

Look at the smile on this kid! He was practically glowing when it was over. He told me later that he thinks he is addicted to races. I told him that was a great thing to be addicted to :). The kids have their next triathlon next month.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

These are my besties. My girls. My peeps. Some of the people on this great big earth who know me best...and love me anyway.

I'm a lucky lady to have these girls in my life. We all met many many years ago in NYC before we had babies. Now we have 16 kids and a lifetime of friendship between us. I am so grateful that we carved out the time to travel from our far flung corners of the country for 4 days together in Rhode Island for our annual girls weekend. It was epic. We laughed, we cried. We did some unmentionable things. I'll just leave it at that.

Not sure if I have talked about this before...but I absolutely love where I live. We have been in the Bay Area now for 10 years and each year that goes by I realize I love it more and more. These are vineyard filled hills that surround my kids school. The view doesn't get any better than this.

It took a good 3 years for me to fall in love with this place. I was (well...am) an East Coast girl and living in NYC for nearly 7 years had me wound pretty tight. But now I am fully invested with being a California girl. There are a lot of uncertainties in life and certainly no day is completely free from problems but if you love where you live it sure helps.

Monday, October 6, 2014

See those big kids on bikes? Those are my older two. They are getting too big. And see that garland hanging on my back fence? I made that this weekend. It is way longer than you can appreciate based on this photo. I gathered up a bunch of my favorite vintage and colorful fabrics and chopped out some triangles and sewed them to burlap twine. Loving the way it looks.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

I did it again. This was my 3rd year running the Napa Ragnar Relay. And I say this every year - I am NOT doing that again! Then I spend the next 11 months plotting how I am going to do it again. Ragnar is a craaaaaazy addiction. Totally worth it. Totally nuts.

Here is our Van. The illustrious Van #1, Despicable Miles (we were dressed as minions from Despicable Me in case you can't tell). Taken at the finish line when we were tire/hot/hungry/thirsty/sleeeeeeepy.

Here we were at the starting line 30 hours earlier in Golden Gate Park (I think it was around 6 AM when we took this shot). We were all hopped up on nerves and READY to go. Running those nerves out never felt so good. Seriously.

The highlight of my personal race experience was running my first leg (5.5 miles) across the Golden Gate Bridge. It really doesn't get much cooler than that. Bucket list - CHECK!

Ruth and I are now bonded for life. That's all we will say about that.

Our team was sponsored by Showerpill. I seriously cannot say enough how much I love this product. I had never used it before Ragner and holy moly, I am now converted. They are these amazing wipes that are way better than baby wipes - they leave no residue, clean you up and leave you smelling fresh. Which is REALLY an accomplishment considering we don't sleep/shower/clean up properly for up to 30 hours during a Ragnar race! Go Showerpill! Also check out how awesome our van looked!!

I came home and immediately deposited myself in my shower - I say this every year but that post-Ragnar shower is practically religious it is so awesome. Then I crawled into bed and took a 3 hour nap...then went back to bed and slept all night. My legs were SORE but once again, we made indelible memories. Thanks Ragnar. I will probably see you again next year :). Probably...

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Friends...I made a youth triathlon! Craziness. Having never actually DONE a triathlon before I was super nervous about pulling it all together but it came off beautifully. My sense of relief and accomplishment was HUGE! My good friend Ruth was my partner in crime and my other friend and neighbor Megen was right there alongside us getting things together. We had 22 participants (I capped the race at 25 kids since it was my first time putting on a race; 25 seemed manageable).

Look at these kids go!!!

For most of these participants it was their very first triathlon. It was a first for my two oldest kids and they were hooked.

This is Simon and his friend Lizzy - they both rocked it.

We are missing a few kids in this shot but this was taken when it was all over. Some of these kids were completely wiped out - it was GREAT :).

My daughter looked WAY to easy - breezy - happy - smiley to be in the middle of a race! Right?! Also, this trail the kids biked on is what I have literally run hundreds of miles on now -it is my main running playground :).

I had a few criteria for the race. First, there would be finisher medals for everyone. Because I usually run for the medals - don't we all? Second, I wanted the kids to push themselves and really try to do their best. And third, I wanted kids to walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment AND a desire to do another triathlon. From what I saw out on the course and afterwards, they ALL had a great time and were really proud of themselves. We had a fantastic team of parents volunteering and older siblings/friends helping to direct kids and cheer them on. The best part was the community spirit it brought out in everyone.

I am now officially addicted to putting on races. I can't wait to put on our next youth triathlon in the spring. I must be crazy...but it sure is fun.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Check out this incredible headboard made of books. Perfect for the book lover...or possibly for someone who suffers from insomnia? For tips on how to make this incredible headboard please visit this website - she will show you how to do it from start to finish.

Friday, August 29, 2014

I have been looking for a long time for a storage savvy piece for my foyer. Now don't start thinking I have a grand foyer; the very word "foyer" sounds grand doesn't it? Well, my foyer situation is not grand but after lots of searching and thinking and more searching I finally found the perfect piece.

I found this piece at my local favorite flea/antique haunt. It was olive green when I found it...

but I knew that it needed to be French Louis blue. I used my favorite Annie Sloan chalk paint and cleaned this old girl right up. It took a good 2 1/2 coats; I spent the bulk of my painting time talking to Sophie so I quite enjoyed myself.

The drawers contain ALL of our DVD binders and Wii games. And we still have a whole spare drawer for whatever crops up in the future. I loved the colors and lines of this piece.
Also, it weighs a TON, so it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

About Me

Transplanted from NYC to the Bay Area with 4 kids, a husband and a children's accessory company called Trulaaluu. I am inspired by my family, adoption, my friends, good design, running, beautiful spaces, social media connections and creating. Welcome to Dwelling by Design.